UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $8000.

It looks like this was painted with the hood down. It looks like it has a repro body that’s in good shape.

“1953 Willys Jeep CJ-3B – FOR SALE

Greetings everyone. Back in the late 90’s, my father purchased an old run-down Jeep for him and his 15 year old son (me) to restore. After about 3 weeks in, we both realized that we were in over our heads and my dad paid a professional to restore the Jeep from the frame up. Since the initial restoration, the Jeep has been kept in a garage 24/7 with only minimal use. It’s been taken out and ran through the mud several times in my late teens/early twenties, but for the most part, it’s sat unused. My pop’s been gone for several years now and it’s time for me to sell the ol’ gal to someone who will put her to some use. He bought it so we’d have something to work on together and now that I have kids of my own, I’d like to do the same thing.

I have a diary of sorts from the restoration that details all the work completed, but from what I can gather it was basically a complete re-build. I remember that the body is new, but the hood, fenders, grill and tailgate are original. The engine is original as well but from what I can tell, was rebuilt. The odometer reads 63,683 – but that would be original miles since ’53, not since the rebuild. Within the past decade I’ve rebuilt the carburetor, replaced the fuel pump, gas tank, brakes, battery and distributer. I replaced these items out of ignorance when the original gas tank rusted due to inactivity. I couldn’t get the ol’ gal to start and traced to problem from the carburetor back to the gas tank, replacing every part in my way! I’m not sure of the exact mileage at the restoration, but there’s no way it’s been driven more than 3-4k miles since then.

Condition:

Cosmetically-
The body is in fine shape with no dents. The paint is a matte finish and is in good shape as well. There’s some swirl/scratch marks from washing and off-roading, but it’s mainly due to the finish being matte and not having a gloss clear coat. While the wheels are period correct, the tires are not. However, they’re in great shape and make for some fun when taken off-road! As far as I can tell, the 4 wheel drive is functioning properly.

What I KNOW is “wrong” – The gas tank has a tiny leak that I recently discovered. It’s not due to rust, but is on the connecting hose. Simple gas-tank putty should do the trick. The gauges tend to be spotty sometimes. The speedometer, odometer, temperature and battery amperage work fine, but the fuel gauge is wonky. The brakes were just rebuilt by a professional mechanic but they’re still as dodgy as ever. He replaced the master cylinder as well as all four tire cylinders, but if you’ve ever driven an old car with drum brakes you’ll know how sketchy they are. I mean it stops, but I’m just used to ABS. 🙂 The front passenger headlight bezel is missing but the lights work fine – brights as well. The steering is loosey-goosey but has been that way since day one.

The Jeep fires right up when you turn the key and has since I’ve owned it. I can’t imagine a real mechanic couldn’t find other things wrong with it but I’m describing it to the best of my ability. She’ll work right out of the gate, but I think someone with a penchant for vintage cars and tinkering could really make this thing sing!

Also, the Jeep has a roll bar that’s included as well. In fact, it’s been kept on the Jeep since it’s initial restoration, but was recently removed for a film to make it look a bit more period correct. If you’d like to see the Jeep in motion, it was a picture car for the Whitestone Motion Pictures film ‘Lili Marleen.’ Here’s a link to the film, scroll to 8:05 to see the Jeep in action!

https://vimeo.com/45105711

Here’s the link to the picture set on Flickr, along with a video of the Jeep running/idling:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27211807@N08/sets/72157634752304159/

I’m not a collector and I’m honestly not sure what it’s worth. I’ve seen various ones go anywhere from $1500 in terrible/non-working condition, to fully restored originals for $15k. I’d like to think of this one as somewhere in the middle. My asking price is $8,000, but I’m open to negotiation. As aforementioned, I’m looking to work on something with my boys and I think working on a cafe racer would be fun. That being said, I’m open to for trade any 70’s Honda CB500/550’s plus cash. Other than that, cash only, please.

Please use the email to contact me as where I work doesn’t have the best cell coverage. Thanks for looking and please don’t hesitate to ask any questions. I’m not a mechanic and could probably only answer a few “technical” questions but I’ll do my best. If you’re still interested then we can arrange for a viewing.

Thanks again!”